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Extend Jobless Benefits

Congress Reauthorizes Federal UI Benefits

July 22, 2010: At long last, Congress has reauthorized federal UI extensions. NELP would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of you who continued to take persistent action and demand that Congress keep the programs in place; tens of thousands of emails were sent from unemployedworkers.org from you, which has made all the difference in getting these extensions passed. Please see our Blog for any other updates, and our Ask the Expert page for updated information on the extension programs.

What's Next?

While we are fighting to keep the current extensions in place, we know that many of you have faced an end of the federal benefits available in your state. With unemployment lasting so long, and job growth only starting to slowly increase, we consider the lack of options regarding a safety net for the long-term unemployed to be an unprecedented crisis which needs immediate solutions. Congress' failure to keep the extensions in place through the end of the year has kept their attention focused on renewing the current provisions every month or so, and has prevented any real discussion about support options for the severely long-term unemployed. We have heard from many of you regarding the difficulties associated with running out of federal extensions, and while this particular effort that we write to you about today is focused on the current provisions already in place, we are committed to push for additional steps that need to be taken to specifically address the crisis long-term unemployment.